Maggi leads Barlow girls
to top of Class

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT), Lenn Zonder NEWS-TIMES CORRESPONDENT

Published
1:00 am EDT, Sunday, June 13, 2004

NEW BRITAIN - A little less than five minutes into the Class II CIAC girls' lacrosse championship, Kendall Maggi of Barlow High picked up the ball deep in her own end of the field and ran untouched deep into Masuk territory.

Maggi's spurt was crucial, even though Masuk was leading 1-0 at that time. Her run foreshadowed how easily Barlow could get through the Masuk defense and put pressure on Masuk goalie

The Falcons used that knowledge to soar to an 8-4 victory and claim the state championship.

"The girls look to me for leadership," Maggi said. "I would have taken any desperate measure to get us on top as early as possible. This game meant a lot to me. But I knew even if it took a couple of rotations, we would win.

"I just wanted to do something to gain the momentum that would carry us."

On Barlow's next rush, Liz Wayne scored her 98th career goal to tie the game 1-1.

"I'm upset that I didn't get it," she said, referring to her goal of scoring 100 goals in her high school career. "Scoring 100 was important to me. I could have gotten them, but I passed off to others and got an assist. I wanted it badly, but I wouldn't trade a state championship for 100 goals."

Wayne's goal ignited the Falcons to score four first-half goals on just seven shots.

Sophomore
Jenn Grant
led Barlow with two goals. She scored the team's sixth and seventh goals of the game by "Looking for openings and being in the right place at the right time," she said.

Defensively, the Falcons broke down the Masuk offense with timely stick checks to keep the pressure off their goalie, Sheela Dandapani, who earned the win with a 20-save performance.

"The defense did a great job of holding them off," Dandapani said. "When they (Masuk) got through I was ready for them.

"This was definitely one of the best games of my career."

Dandapani confessed she began thinking the Barlow had the game won at the half when they were leading 4-1.

"As a team, we were on today," she added. "Things felt good to me. As long as I didn't get hurt, we were okay. We didn't have a backup goaltender. Other than that, I felt I could hold off anything."

Masuk's
Amanda Williams
, one of the best attackers in the state, scored three goals.

Her first, which gave Masuk its only lead of the game, came at 2:09. The other two came late in the second period when it seemed Barlow had iced the win.

"I was less concerned about Williams, than I was about how our team would play," said Barlow coach
Cori Distler
. "Nobody can face-guard Williams. Defending her has to be a total team effort, not just the job of one person."